Gaius Asinius Pollio (consul 40 BC)

Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC-4 AD) was Consul of the Roman Republic in 40 BC and a noted Roman orator, historian, playwright, literary critic, and poet. He fought alongside Julius Caesar during his civil war with Pompey, and he went on to write the History of the Civil Wars and become a mentor to the young future emperor Claudius.

Biography
Gaius Asinius Pollio was born in Teate, Italia, Roman Republic (now Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy) in 75 BC, and he was of Marrucini descent. During Caesar's Civil War, he supported Julius Caesar against Pompey, and he and Gaius Scribonius Curio were sent to Africa Proconsularis to fight the provincial governor, Publius Attius Varus, who was loyal to Pompey during the civil war. After Curio was killed at the Bagradas River in 49 BC, Pollio retreated to Utica with a small force, and he was present as Caesar's legate at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC.

In 47 BC, Pollio served as tribune, and he fought against Metellus Scipio before leading his forces in Hispania against Sextus Pompey at the time of Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. He refused to hand over the province to anyone without the approval of the Roman Senate, holding out against Marcus Aemilius Lepidus; he was later defeated by Sextus and forced to flee in disguise. He vacillated between Mark Antony and Octavian as the civil war brewed, and he ultimately sided with Antony. During the proscriptions, Pollio's father-in-law committed suicide rather than be murdered. Pollio was entrusted with distributing the lands around Mantua to veteran soldiers, and he saved Virgil's property from confiscation. In 40 BC, he helped to arrange the peace treaty between Antony and Octavian at Brundisium, serving as Consul that same year; however, Antony and Octavian forced the two consuls to resign early. The next year, Pollio campaigned against the Illyrians loyal to Marcus Junius Brutus, and he remained neutral at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, as he remembered Antony's kindness towards him.

From the spoils of war, Pollio constructed the first public library in Rome, and he became a writer. He wrote The History of the Civil Wars, a book read by the future emperor Claudius during his youth; when Pollio asked him who the greatest Roman historian was, Claudius responded by saying that, for beauty of language, he would read Livy, but, for interpretation of fact, he would read Pollio, angering Livy, but impressing Pollio, who said that he might make a historian after all. When asked, Claudius revealed that he was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus and the grandson of Tiberius Claudius Nero, and that he was reading Pollio's works so that he could write his own family history. Pollio told him that his father and grandfather both died (specifically, were poisoned) because they believed in the Roman Republic, and that some people would not want Claudius to publish his history. Pollio then advised Claudius to exaggerate his stutter and his limp, to let his wits wander, and to play the fool as much as he liked, as it would allow for him to live a long and useful life. Pollio died in 4 AD at the old age of 79.